


goðs andlit

by endlessnighttimesky



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: M/M, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 08:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17598116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlessnighttimesky/pseuds/endlessnighttimesky
Summary: You are in a foreign land, kneeling before a master you do not know, in a town you have never before visited, in front of strangers who do not know who you are.





	goðs andlit

**Author's Note:**

> written in the second person AND the future tense bc i'm just that kind of asshole
> 
> also in case it's not obvious i have no idea what i'm doing

Ragnar touches you the way you touch holy books and golden crosses.

In time, you will learn how to lay your hands upon skin, over bones and blood—you will learn how to give yourself to another the way you give yourself to your God.

But that is not for a while to come.

When his hands clench around the rope that binds you to him, you know it is merely for the benefit of those around you. Within the walls of his—your home, you are nothing less than his equal. It is him who has made sure you know this.

You kneel for him, once, because your life is in his hands, and you do not yet trust him in the way you one day will.

One day, his hands will be the safest place you have ever known.

But that, too, is not for a while to come.

Yet, when he stands over you with a knife in one hand and the rope in the other, you do not tremble with fear, nor do you pray to your God for protection.

Instead, you bare your throat to the man who holds both knife and noose in his hands. You look at him, but you do not speak—the prayers are all there, whispers in the back of your mind, but you do not hear them, just like you do not hear the people around you, not their voices and words, nor their songs and laughter.

You are in a foreign land, kneeling before a master you do not know, in a town you have never before visited, in front of strangers who do not know who you are.

But you do not see them, or their village, or even their land.

You see him, who has ice in his eyes and your fate in his hands.

Later on, when he has drawn questions from your lips, you will remember this moment, and you will doubt.

You will doubt, because on this day, him above you is the closest you have ever come to seeing the face of God.

Even later on, when you are scarred and bleeding and cannot banish the taste of iron from your mouth, you will look at the men around you, see their empty eyes and lifeless bodies, and when you look up, you will see him, bruised and bleeding, too, but standing, one hand outstretched towards you.

You will take it, and you will no longer doubt.


End file.
